26.03.2025 21:00
In a speech at the iftar program with workers, President Erdoğan announced that the Ramadan Bayram holiday will last for 9 days. Erdoğan stated, "Our public employees will be considered on administrative leave from April 2 to April 4, following the holiday."
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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made statements at the Iftar program with Workers at the Beştepe National Exhibition Hall. Erdoğan announced that the Ramadan Bayram holiday has been extended to 9 days.
BAYRAM HOLIDAY IS NOW 9 DAYS
President Erdoğan stated: "As you know, next week all our schools will enter their second mid-term break. The Monday and Tuesday of the mid-term break coincide with the second and third days of the Ramadan holiday. We want our families to spend quality time with their children and to celebrate the holiday peacefully and joyfully with their families. For this purpose, we have included the 3-day period following the holiday in the scope of administrative leave for our public employees. That is, on April 2nd, Wednesday, April 3rd, Thursday, and April 4th, Friday, our public employees will also be considered on administrative leave. Thus, our nation will have the opportunity to enjoy a total of 9 days of holiday."
Highlights from President Erdoğan's statements are as follows:
"I thank our worker brothers who honor our table. Welcome to this sacred place. Today, we are also observing the Night of Qadr, which is more virtuous than a thousand months. I hope that this blessed night, when mercy and blessings rain down from the heavens, will be beneficial for all of you, the entire Islamic world, and the world. May your Ramadan Bayram be blessed in advance. I kindly ask you not to forget all our brothers in our heartland in your prayers."
"WE HAVE STRIVED TO RAISE THE WELFARE LEVELS OF WORKERS"
Labor, sweat, and halal earnings are at the center of our values. Since the day we took office, we have endeavored to give workers their rights and to create a fair working environment. We have worked hard to raise the welfare levels of all workers. We have made reforms that encompass all sectors of working life, from employment policies to equal opportunities, from occupational health to social security.
During the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the Dutch Ambassador sent a letter to the King of the Netherlands. Look at what expressions are included in this letter. They have the resources of a magnificent empire, a habit of victory, the ability to fight, resilience to hard work, frugality, order, discipline, and precaution. However, we have widespread poverty, luxury and waste in some segments, laziness, and lack of education. So what kind of result can we expect from this situation? Our history is filled with many virtues and beauties, just like the scene depicted in this letter. We have been striving to give workers their rights and to build a fair working climate since the day we took office, by preserving this heritage. We have made efforts to improve the conditions of our workers, civil servants, unions, and all employees, and to raise their welfare levels.
"WE HAVE TAKEN REVOLUTIONARY STEPS IN RECENT TIMES"
We have made reforms that encompass all sectors of working life, from legal and regulatory changes to union rights, from employment policies to equal opportunities, from occupational health to social security. Especially in recent times, we have taken revolutionary steps. We declared May 1st, which was banned by the single-party fascism that bled the nation, as an official holiday for labor and solidarity.
We enacted the occupational health and safety law to ensure that our employees work under safer conditions. We facilitated the establishment conditions for unions. We revised and improved the laws on unions and collective bargaining. We expanded the collective bargaining system. We strengthened union guarantees and the right to strike. We granted collective bargaining rights to our public officials. We reinstated the collective bargaining bonus that the main opposition party took to the Constitutional Court and had annulled. By lifting the headscarf ban in the public sector, we guaranteed women's rights and freedoms in working life.
Our public employees can now fully and effectively benefit from rights such as Friday leave and pilgrimage leave. With the regulations we made in areas such as salary increases, disciplinary amnesty, leave for caregivers, 3600 additional indicators, and additional payments, we improved the working and freedom rights of our civil servants.
"WE WILL START THE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING PROCESS IN AUGUST"
We regulated the salary increase rates, raises, and compensations of our public officials in a way that will not let our employees be crushed by inflation. As of January 2025, we increased civil servant salaries by 11.54% along with the inflation difference. Thus, we have raised the lowest civil servant salary, which was 392 lira in 2002, to 43,726 lira in 2025. With these figures, the lowest civil servant salary has increased by 266% in real terms and approximately 112 times in nominal terms since 2002. In August, we will hopefully start the collective bargaining process. We will again resolve the issues of our public officials constructively, as we have for the past 23 years.
The demands regarding the public collective bargaining framework agreement protocol have been communicated to us by the unions. Within the understanding of social dialogue, we will hopefully complete this process regarding the collective bargaining of our public workers during this period as well. Dear guests, we exempted the minimum wage, which was increased by 30% compared to the previous year, from income tax. We continue to provide minimum wage support to employers. We resolved all the issues of our citizens who spent their lives in queues for medicine and hospitals in the past. We have made the health and social security system operate smoothly.
"WE WILL NOT GIVE CREDIT TO ROGUE POLITICIANS WHO PLAY WITH WORKERS' BREAD"
We provided permanent positions for subcontracted workers and contracted personnel in public institutions. We opened the way for temporary workers to work a full year. With the youth program of İŞKUR, we enabled our university students to gain knowledge and experience while earning income. We have supported, encouraged, and empowered our employees in every field by implementing many more regulations, innovations, and projects. We will not give credit to rogue politicians who play with workers' bread with irresponsible boycott calls. All media groups are complaining to the West. Couldn’t you find another door to knock on? Know this, you will lose. Throwing young people into the streets will not bring any gains.
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